Traditional infrared measurements of spectrally-overlapped chemical mixtures rely on spectroscopic measurements combined with multivariate statistics. However, traditional methods are experimentally complicated and require time and significant expertise in chemometric analysis.
Traditional photodetectors have fast response times, but they tend to have limited spectral range, must be cooled, and are fairly expensive. Thermal detectors on the other hand, while relatively slow in response, have a wide spectral range, work at room temperature, and are inexpensive.
The present disclosure relies on a thermal detector system that can be applied to a variety of applications where overlapping absorbance peaks are an issue.